I held you softly
as you slept
I held you gently
as you wept
I held you tightly
as you screamed
I stroked your hair
as you dreamed
I wiped the tears
that would not dry
I cried the tears
you would not cry
I took the demons
in your head
and made them
Mine instead
I need to be
by your side
don’t turn me away
I am not your Pride
I am not your Pity
I am not your Sorrow
I am here Today
I am your Tomorrow

Up, down, round and round
To and fro
Back and forth
Dance with me
this dance of ambiguity
I say this
You say that
I do this
And you do that
Sometimes on the same page meet
But most of it
Ambiguity
You reach to touch
I hold still
I lean in close
You back step twirl
I lean away
You lean close
Like two teens
Discovering love
Morning comes and goodbyes said
Till next time
We're in the others head
Awkward stance
Both you and I
We finally touch
It's not goodbye
One day soon
We'll be in tune
Until that day
*Ambiguity shall stay

I’m the Caucasian black guy
Crying out for equal rights.
I’m the white faced coolie
You murdered in the night
So you didn’t have to pay
His salary on the railroad.
I’m the unrelated relative
Of Faulkner’s Tom Joad.

I’m the underappreciated
The **** of many quips.
I’ve known the well of bitterness
And have taken countless sips.
The names they’ve called me
Seldom amounted to praise.
I’m the one they passed over
When giving out a raise.

I was told to not expect
To advance in any job.
I was told to just agree
And to let my silent head bob.
I knew all the best was there
For a man who had a wife.
Otherwise I must do without
The rewards in everyday life.

But we must sleep and eat
And have a roof over our heads.
So we cut up and act the fool
And eat the cheapest breads.
We act like the jokes don’t hurt
While we bleed inside our souls.
We make the best of what we have
And compromise our own goals.

Yes, we’re the modern house slaves
Regardless of the color of our skin.
We’re expected to be satisfied because
They think God has made us from sin.
It’s one of those shameful moments
That blot the history of our planet.
We’re dealt with as if we were ****
And told we simply must stand it.

As I read your poetry
I wonder if it's true
Do the demons that help in rhyme
Really have a hold of you

And is the one you say you love
Not returning you the favor
In the poems that you pen
Is this all your life's behavior

Does your father really raise his fist
While your mother screams
As alcohol flows freely in your life
Or is it just poetry

Are you on the verge of suicide
And do you truly cut yourself
Do you feel that worthless in your life
Is what you write a cry for help

As I read your poetry
It often sets me off to wonder
Do you write about yourself
Or do you write about another

Alexander Graham
Rang a Bell when he said
Mr. Watson, come here
In 1876

With no earthly idea
Of what was to come
How we live today
With cell phones up our butts

Wherever you turn
Someone's talking or texting
At every red light
While the green one is resting

And let's not forget
The in your ear bluetooth craze
People talking out loud to themselves
Like we all care what they say

Or out and about
At a table for four
Where each cell phone in hand
Is the only thing not ignored

It does make you wonder
What Alexander would do
If he saw his seed planted
Producing this rotten fruit

Perhaps then Alexander Graham
Would ring that Bell in history
And say Mr. Watson, come here
Help me destroy this thing!

You might find this tid bit
A bit hard to believe
But I swear my cat sees thing
That I ain't never seen

I'm thinking that it's spirits
Floating all around
You can most often tell
With her constant peculiar meows

She'll sit there and she'll stare
At one spot to no end
It seems to me it must be the dead
As sure as I now live

Or when she ups and jumps
Batting at nothing but thin air
I doubt that it's the micro dust
But rather the spirits floating there

I know that all cats automatically come
With a total of nine lives
Which leaves me to often wonder
How many live on the other side

Yes, my cat sees ghosts
But you would never know
Cause she seems to see the strangest things
That no human eye could ever hope